Workshop #15 Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop Recordings

I started with a melody and after the melody I made chords. Then I went back to a new melody and went from there. My piece does not tell a story but the title tells a lot about my piece because I made my piece very slow and sad. some challenges I had making my piece was making parts for all of the instruments. I really liked composing music this year because it let me explore what I could do with instruments. I learned that you should not make some parts of your piece really high pitched because it might sound good on the computer but the musicians can’t always play it.

I started with a melody. I think that it was fun because I added a little touch to make it have a story to it. I added a lot of interesting parts like the changes in the melody how it goes high and then low. I made it so that all of the instruments had parts so they can all play and I think that it makes them sound nice. I also made it so that the instruments changes like from flute to clarinet. I think that coming up with the whole piece was hard for me because I didn’t know what to put on the sheet but I started to add some stuff and I think that it worked out pretty good. I think that I have learned a lot and that I learned how to use technology and different styles of music. I also think that I learned different things to put in my piece sort of like accessories to your piece.

I fist started with a small melody. Then I changed it a bit to make it be a chord progression. I chose J24 as the title to my piece because this is a type of sailboat. On a boat things will change a lot and new things will happen sort of like my piece. Mostly the trumpet and the clarinet are the main melody. My piece is telling the story of someone who is sailing a sailboat. One challenge I had when composing my piece, was to decide if I wanted one repeating melody, or changing sections. I decided to go with the music changing a lot, because my last piece I composed was one melody repeating. It has been so much fun to compose music this year. When we first started off, I thought we would be doing small pieces here and there. I had no idea we would make big pieces and have professionals play them for us. It is so much more fun to compose your own music rather than play someone else’s because you get to show your music skills and really express yourself. I have learned that composing music is a great way to get better at an instrument or other things involving musical content. There is no better way to learn new music terms and etc., then to actually use them in composing and visually seeing it for a while. This is why composing music in music class has been one of my favorite subjects.

I started my piece with a melody. I thought my rhythm was a bit upbeat so I decided to change it throughout the piece. My piece has no main instruments and the main part switches around a bit. For the title of my piece I don’t really have anything behind how I made it. One challenge was that I always wanted to change the melody once I finished making it. You can’t really hear the same melody twice. One thing that I have learned in music class is that in order to make music you have to give something.

I started with a chord progression for an introduction and then I went into my melody partly using the chords. The trumpet and the violin are the two most important instruments in my piece and I think the message of my piece is to just relax and listen to the music. The challenges I had we’re coming up with a good melody. Also having a good ending. I also had trouble with giving every instrument a part. I learned that if you think really hard about what you should add to your piece you won’t come up with any good ideas but when you relax and just let the music play you come up with your best ideas!!

I started making chords based on the notes that are in my piece and if it didn’t go together I kept changing it until it sounded just right. I broke up the parts of my main melody and the back round part so the ensemble could breath in between parts. I couldn’t think of a good title so I asked many people what it should be and I finally figured out something good!! Some challenges I had with composing my piece was trying to find a melody that I liked. I started with a melody that I didn’t like, so I completely changed it to one that I did like! It was fun composing music this year. I liked listening to other people’s compositions too. I think that people really figured out what their strengths were from our fall compositions. From composing music I learned that we have to keep revising to make something final and perfect the way you want it to be.

I first made a melody and then afterwards I put chords in the melody and then I fixed all of the clashes that were part of the melody. Most of the main melody in my piece is played by the cello and the violin. I had a lot of clashes at first and I had to make them sound good together but then I changed them and only kept the part of the main melody that sounded good. I learned all about chords and about instrument ranges so that my piece could sound even better then how it sounded before. I think that it was also really cool that we get to play part of our main melody because it gives us something to do before our piece starts. I think that it is also really cool that people play our piece with real instruments and that makes me want to make my piece better than I wanted to before.

In my piece I started with a chord progression. I called my piece “Shine” because my main melody made me feel happy. My piece has a mix of major & minor chords. It sort of reminds me of the feelings from my life. I think I’m on my way! One of the hardest things about composing a piece is coming up with notes that you think will go well together and ones the audience will enjoy. Being able to compose music this year has been wonderful. I love expressing my feelings through music. When I’m not feeling great, it’s sort of like therapy for me.

I started my piece with making a melody then I added chords later on. And after I had made a lot of my piece I added some articulations like staccato. I chose the name of my piece because I did not exactly know what to name it. And my piece does not tell a story but I think if you think about it it could be like the ocean. The challenges that I had making my piece were that I did not always know what to do next to my piece. And another challenge that I had was adding dynamics to my piece. I think that it has been challenging composing music this year because music is not exactly my favorite subject and I think that there is still a lot of things that I am working on in music. I have learned through composing music that it can be hard and that there are many symbols that make the person who is playing the piece play it differently.

The process that I went through for composing my piece was thinking about having a smooth melodic shape, having notes moving by step, moving by skip, moving by leap, and for the end, using a home note. For the way my music piece was going to sound, I thought about notes that are consonant, and notes that are dissonant. One of the challenges that I experienced in composing my music piece was making chords. It was hard making chords because I kept forgetting that most of the instruments can only play one note at a time. Another one of the challenges that I had was making the notes match up together and fix any dissonances

I started with the main theme of my composition on cello and added various instruments to highlight this melody. I sought to move the piece forward through a variety of other main ideas, such as the monophonic eighth-note triplets that follow the main theme and sixteenth-note scales. While the cello begins the piece, the main theme is also carried by the violin and bassoon throughout my composition. This main melody is handed off from instrument to instrument and is explored through a range of dynamics and accompaniments. Seeing as most of my piece is based upon a single melody, it was often challenging to add variations to this theme. Additionally, the transition to the relative major was difficult to lay out, as I sought to resolve the tension from the previous measures. I have thoroughly enjoyed composing this year, as it has allowed me to further my knowledge of music theory and apply it to my composition.

I like how it sounds to go up and down the scale. So I thought, Why not have it in the beginning of my piece, and start off with it. The violin had the main part. I made the violin have the main part, because I think the violin is a beautiful sounding instrument. I made the title of my piece, Guinea Pigs because I love my piece and I love my guinea pig. I had trouble making sure there were no clashes, I don’t like to hear clashes. I have learned a lot about dynamics and hope to use them in the future a lot.

In the process of making my piece I just started playing notes in my head until something sounded good. I started with thinking of random notes. When you put those notes in a certain order they will sound great together. The flute and violin have main parts in the beginning, but as the piece goes on different parts get the main role. My piece tells the story of all the dangers in the woods. It has some clashes that I like and goes from a high note to a low note quickly. In one part of my piece I made a very very fast part that was the core of my piece. I have learned that all music has a story to tell. Once you listen to the music it is like sharing a story. It has been very fun composing music this year. I am now more curious.

I started with a chord then turned it into a melody. Sometimes I made it as a melody first then made a chord sometimes. The main instrument is the flute because I always liked the flute. The title is because it’s full of mystery/confusion so I picked the Sun at Sea. It tells you that there is a case to be solved they are closer, closer, then figure it out. I had a challenge to add a main melody because there was so many things to do. Matt helped me find a way to fit a melody while making it have a lot of things in it. I learned that even if you need to make some chords and a good piece at the same time you just need to try your best and create more and more ideas.

I originally started with some chords in the first part but my piece was too long so I had to take them out but I think it is better this way. But the process was mostly finding melodies and rhythms that I liked and putting them together. I had the idea that no instrument would have the main part but instead kind of like solos. Sometimes they play together sometimes they play separately kind of like how rain will fall in some areas and then cover a large area. Some challenges were to make some parts fit together better. I love composing because it is a place to let out my emotions and make cool beats. Also because it is just fun to do it.

I started with a chord progression that I made earlier, and just made a melody with that. There are a bunch of group parts, but there are some solos. None of them have the main part, but the ones that have solos are, trumpet, bassoon, and flute. I named my piece Ferris wheel, because a Ferris wheel moves up and down, and so do notes. My piece doesn’t tell a story in any sort of way. I think at some points, I had a really hard time thinking of melodies, and if they sounded good with everything else. I think its really cool to compose music, because people usually do that when they are adults, and we have an opportunity to do it now. I have learned that it takes a bunch of time to compose, and everything like that. It’s really hard, but it’s fun!

I started just with random notes that started to sound good. Later I added a melody and it sounded better. The bassoon plays the main part in my piece. My story doesn’t really represent anything specific. Some changes I made was taking the clashes away and making the melody sound better. I have learned that if you add dynamics and other things it actually makes your piece sound better.

I start by hitting some random notes, switched stuff around, add a chord here and there, and work out a melody. That’s how I do most things on Noteflight! I don’t really know a main part or instrument but I personally like a part near the end where there are a lot of eighth notes all in a row, that’s what I like best. A challenge that I faced while writing my piece was writing when not knowing what to write. I loved composing. It brings out the music in you. You also get to learn SO many new things! As I said, I loved it!

As I do to make most of my compositions, my piece started out as random chords and then I thought up a melody and little by little I expanded. As did in my last piece The Last Of The Dinosaurs, this one too tells a story. This is the story of a thunder storm just coming up one night. One of the biggest challenges that I ran into was finding out a way of making my notes go faster at the end of the main melody. This musical year taught me that in order to get something from music you have to give something. Something else I learned was that if you look hard you will always find the answer to your questions.

I started with a melody. The violin and cello have the main melody in my piece. I had to change the instruments which was hard at first because it didn’t sound like I wanted it to. It takes lots of time and focus to complete the whole piece.

I stared my composition with a C major chord. I had a previous chord progression I made before starting my piece. I just put a melody to my chords. I messed around with how the melodies sounded with the chords. In my piece, all of the instruments make up my main melody. They all have a special part in my piece and without one instrument, the whole piece would sound different. The way I chose the name of my piece is because it actually sounds like a frog jumping from lily pad to lily pad. A challenge I had making my piece was with clashes. When there is a clash, you can hear it. I think I had trouble with that because of bass clef and treble clef. It was really fun to compose music this year because you get freedom in what your piece sounds like, but enough guidelines to actually know what to do.

I started with a melody and then made another melody then I went back and added a chord progression at the beginning. I have loud instruments play my main melody so that I can hear it and have it stand out. One of the challenges I had while composing and had trouble making dynamics .

I started with a chord progression in C major and I started with a melody that fit. My piece is sort of all over the place texture wise because it starts off as a chord progression and then switches gears into a section playing over and over again picking up other instruments to play along with it as it goes and then from there it just sort of takes off and goes its own direction. Some challenges I had were thinking about which articulations and dynamics to add in my piece and where to add them. It has been very fun to compose music this year, I have learned so much more about music which helped me learn my saxophone and my piano. Composing music was really a joy and I never thought I would ever be composing something so “advanced”. In the beginning of the year I thought I was going to compose horrible music that would ruin my ears, but I am now very proud of my piece.

Composing this piece took a lot of effort, time and creativity. This time we had to incorporate a lot more things than last time because we learned so much more. We started with 3 piano parts with chords that were not separated. Then, once we had the sort of outline of our piece, we could get our instruments and and orchestrate the chords. This is so that the instruments can actually play our notes. Then we added articulations and dynamics. The Violin, Bassoon and Trumpet have the main part of my piece. My piece is called Ocean, Shore because there are two main parts of my piece and there are two parts to a beach, the Ocean and the Shore. A challenge I think for any composer is finding what sounds right. You can have all these notes together and imagine how they are going to sound but until you hear it, it is almost impossible to tell. It has been great to compose music. We have so much choice about what we want to create. It’s not like there is a specific way your piece has to sound.... you decide.

I began my piece with a strong vision for what the violin part should be then made everything more or less in support of that part. The violin and cello have the most voice, but the violin carries the melody. To me the piece almost feels like a race,consisting of a gradual beginning, an increase in pace, the gradually slowing and finally a strong finish to conclude it. I struggled with composing parts for all the instruments, however I slowly was able to add them in as supporting roles. Composing has really tuned my ear to listen to all types of music differently. After this class I’ve found myself listening to how pieces are composed and each instrument is utilized instead of basing my judgments of whether or not I like the overall song.

I started with a melody. But, then it was hard to fit it in with the chords so I had to change some things up in the melody and the chords. But now I am really happy with my piece. My piece is like a person having their morning run and seeing the horse carriages and seeing other people and some with their pets. You see moms with their babies. And children climbing up the rocks. Some of my challenges were that when you had to add some of the dynamics you had to really think... “where do I put this accent?” or “where do I put this decrescendo?” Composing music was really fun, because you got to use your imagination but through music!

At the beginning of my piece I was just kind of putting together random chords until they sounded good and that became my 10 measure melody. Then I just kept on adding little chunks of music on to in until I came out with this. I think that the violin is the main instrument but in this piece it seems like all of the instruments are equally important. The reason that I named my piece Into the Future is because I think that the beginning is quite futuristic and I like that about it so I had the idea of naming it Into The Future. Just about in the middle of making my piece Matt came up to me and said you need an introduction and I was surprised because I thought that my introduction was completely awesome. But I made an intro and it sounded pretty good. (at least I think so). I really liked composing my piece this year especially in this last composition because I got to explore many more things in music.

I started by making a smooth melodic shape like we learned how to in the first session. I decided that my piece sounded bad so I completely redid it. I couldn’t think of a title for my piece so I asked my friend Ben what it reminded him of, he said home. I listened to it and it also remind me of home. I thought that one of my main challenges was that certain notes sounded bad with each other so I had to make them all sound good together. This year I have learned everything from making a good melody to a melodic shape to dynamics. I have learned a lot and I will be able to learn more next year.

I tried to make my piece sort of like a melody that is a bit loud and the other melody a little bit softer in the background. I thought that it was really cool to hear them both and what it would sound like. I also liked how I made one louder so you can hear the main melody and the quiet one is just in the background making it sound more interesting. I think that the main part was the loud parts and the quiet parts. I think that it shows a lot of expression inside my music. I also think that when it is loud I think that that shows that maybe it is angry. When it is quiet I think that it shows that it is shy. The title is Express Yourself. I called it this because I tried to make the melody express itself. I think that I had tons of challenges. I had a hard time figuring out what main melody I should have. I also had a hard time figuring our the right name because I had a hard time knowing about the story. I think that it was interesting because there was a lot of things about music I didn’t know such as... chords,melodies, and textures. Some of the things I think are a little bit confusing but once you get into it I think that you really know how to use them.

I started out with a simple 10 measure chord progression when I created my piece. It grew from one instrument all the way to six, in just three months. For me the melody was easy to add into the chords, but only because the melody was last minute and quick. It eventually became longer, and took a very long time to complete. It wasn’t really a one person composition though, because a lot of people gave amazing comments that helped me along the way! So I really appreciate all of them. All in all, composing was really fun for me. I love the sound of the violin and it has the main role in my composition. Or in my words, my “Midnight Circus!” My piece has this strange tittle because of my emotions while composing. When I started my composition I felt kind of sad, almost like darkness in the pitch black midnight sky. But when I got to the point of happiness in composing, I almost felt as joyful as a circus! So that’s really the story behind the title of my piece, with my emotions playing a huge role. A huge challenge for me in composing was trying to make my piece unique. I really wanted my piece personalized -for it to have it’s own style. This was challenging because there were so many options, too many for me at least. I wanted to weave all of them together in a beautiful pattern, so I felt like I had to use everything we learned in my composition! This really overwhelmed me! But in the end I feel like I used the right amount of everything. Through composing music I’ve learned many things, but something I think was most important is that everyone has different musical styles. I used to think music was something that could be copied, but soon I realized that since everyone has different emotions, everyone’s music was really different. Something else I learned while I composed is that emotions have a huge impact on your music. Almost like you can channel them in to your music.

I started with a chord progression. I had to fit the melody with the chords and I didn’t do very well at first. Some imortant things about my piece are that one it’s crazy, and two it has three parts that are nothing alike and this makes it sound cool. Some challenges I had were fitting the melody with the chords. It’s been fun compsing music this year. I’ve learned that it’s important to not have two dissonances next to each other.

I started out by making a chord progression and then I added different parts from my different pieces. I took different melodies from my different pieces and put them together. I then made sure that the parts all sounded good in the different instruments and different ranges. I named my piece Chocolate because, my dad and I always love to eat chocolate together and try new types. So I named my piece Chocolate in a tribute to him. It is for my dad because he puts up with me all the time and is always the best. Thanks dad! The instrument that play the main part in my piece is the violin. I chose the violin to play the main part because I thought it was the instrument that sounded the best to go with the melody. Even though the violin plays the main part I think all the instrument working together really make the piece one. I had a couple of challenges making my piece. One challenge I ran into was adding more to my piece. This was hard because I did not know what to add at some parts and I was just stuck there waiting for an idea to come to me. Also when I was writing my piece it was hard to find where all the instruments match up together because they all read notes in different spots. I had a hard time doing this when I was trying to make a chord for the bassoon and violin to play together. It was really fun making our pieces. I learned so much this year and I will take it all with me to 6th grade music. I learned how to make chords and why they work. I pretty much learned how to compose a music piece. Something I learned through composing was how we have to give to music to get something. This means that you need to put your musical mind into composing or writing a song, so that you can really get a result that you will enjoy and hopefully everyone else who will listen to it. It was really fun composing because we put a lot of work into our piece then we get to hear real musicians play it. I really enjoyed my time in 5th grade music learning how to compose.